Documented are safety problems (bobbing) that existed for years without resolution. That a repair crew even left the offending signals bobbing five days before the fatal crash. Another report demonstrates why these are not accidents. Why 85% of all problems are directly traceable to top management. From the Washington Post of 5 Mar 2010:
Quote:
FTA delivers scathing report on safety of D.C. Metro
The sternly worded report ... was the first in-depth look at Metro's safety program ... It revealed deep-rooted deficiencies at the transit agency and its independent oversight committee, highlighting vulnerabilities in the systems that are supposed to safeguard passengers and workers, he said.
The report excoriates Metro executives and the independent safety monitors at the Tri-State Oversight Committee, citing failures that include:
Metro has no process to ensure that safety problems are identified in a timely fashion. Top leaders don't receive regular reports about safety issues. The safety office has been marginalized within the agency, lacks access to key data about subway operations and has been left out of decision-making.
As a result of those problems, the report says, the safety office has allowed known hazards to remain uncorrected for years.
|
That's sufficient for Daily News (tabloid) readers. For others who learn the whys before knowing anything, useful facts are buried at the end of the article:
Quote:
Federal auditors found systematic failings in the way Metro identifies and prevents safety problems. Metro has no process or "single point of responsibility" to guarantee that hazards are spotted quickly. The agency has no database for long-term tracking of safety issues. When auditors asked for a list of the "top 10" safety concerns, they were told that Metro had no such list.
Top Metro executives also make critical decisions about operations without analyzing potential hazards, auditors found. Nor is there effective coordination among key operating departments -- such as rail operations, track maintenance and engineering -- to find and manage maintenance-related safety issues, Rogoff said.
The FTA report said Metro's safety office "is not 'plugged-in' to critical conversations, decision-making meetings and reporting systems that provide information on hazards and potential safety concerns throughout the agency." Critical documents, reports and decisions are not shared with the safety office, the report says.
Auditors also said that since 2007, when Catoe took over, four people have been in charge of safety. The department has been reorganized six times in five years, losing personnel and technical expertise. One-fourth of the 41 staff positions allocated to safety remain vacant. Safety, the report said, "has insufficient resources to keep up with a growing backlog of accident and incident investigations."
|
We see this when business school graduates do what is taught in those schools. "A good manager can manage any business." We should be discussing murder charges. The business school mentality – it was only an accident.
View back 6 months to earlier posts. How long ago were the symptoms screaming 'failure at the highest levels of management'? How criminally negligent are those failures now that facts have arrived? It is classic business school attitude - there is plenty of blame to go around. Nonsense. We should be talking murder charges. It was not an accident.